So Why Restrict Yourself To Only One Game Setting?

[Philosopher]

Why should a group restrict themselves to one world setting?

I think you're loading the question with your use of the word "restrict". When you allow too much, you restrict yourself from so many possibilities. Umbran's colour analogy shows why. More options doesn't always increase the possibilities. Sometimes having less options opens up possibilities, especially when it forces to come up with a way of making due with what you have.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Indeed. The flip side of the thread's title might be, "Why force yourself to agglomerate stuff from multiple campaign settings?"

The answer (to both questions) is, "Because it's fun." Of course, YMMV, so the other-answer is, "Do whatever you and your players find fun."

 

[wingsandsword]

As was already said, Planescape and Spelljammer were written to be D&D crossover settings, and Ravenloft had lots of crossover opportunities.

A world-spanning crossover setting is the default setting of Gurps 4th Edition. A world-crossover setting was one of several included in the d20 Future expansion for d20 Modern.

Not every campaign is meant to cross over. One of the most fun long-running D&D games I ever ran was a quasi-historic game set in the 1190's with PC's participating in the Third Crusade. PC's had to be human, obviously, and magic was sharply restricted. Someone asked to join my D&D game, and said he was going to play a Lawful Evil Elven Fighter/Mage/Thief and demanded to also roll for wild talents (it was when 2e was the current edition).

I explained to him that the game was a more-or-less historic game, so there were no elves, mages or psionics, and I don't allow Evil PC's. He first tried to rationalize it as a planewalker that arrived on Earth by mistake, and I vetoed it as the game had it's own planar cosmology other than the Great Wheel, and then tried to say it was a spelljammer crewman who had been accidentally marooned, and I said the world was not in the Spelljammer cosmology and there are no spelljammers in the setting. Despite his protests that they are "official D&D options, so you have to allow them in every game!" I told him that they were not allowed in that campaign. I didn't really want him in my campaign, but I really didn't want the character he was going to create.

 

[Deset Gled]

Why should a group restrict themselves to one world setting?

Breadth vs. Depth.

If you focus only on one specific game world you will get to know the smallest details and understand the most complex features of that world, but you will know nothing about other settings. If you constantly jump between settings you will get to experience the joys of their differences, but will never learn the finer points of any of them. Different people prefer different mixes of the two options.

There is also an issue of immersion time, where you must spend a certain amount of time learning about a setting before you can really play it. If you want to just start in impromptu game, or a one shot, it's probably not worth the time to introduce and entirely new setting. And knowledge overhead to keeping all the settings straight cannot be ignored.

 

[Umbran]

Breadth vs. Depth.

That's a pretty good way to state it.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Why should a group restrict themselves to one world setting?

Why not design something that allows the characters to be able to access different game worlds?

For example, they all live in a tower that can travel to different dimensions.

For me I am currently designing an small city on an entire island that can do this. I call it Dragongaunt.

It's a lot more work, especially for the DM. If you're cool with it, great, but lots of DMs won't be, or think they can handle it, only to find out they can't.

It can also cause problems with too many options: if one player wants to go to Toril, and another to Oerth, and a third to Athas (is that even possible?) you've got a problem a more standard setting wouldn't have to face.

 

[jonesy]

...Athas (is that even possible?)...

I've seen several fan created ideas on how to get there, and solutions regarding possible problems (like bringing vast quantities of metal there, ugh), but officially there hasn't been a way.

 

[TarionzCousin]

When I read the title of this thread, I immediately thought of a gamer who played in multiple games at the same time--like one of those chess prodigies you see playing a dozen games of chess at the same time. He would go from room to room of a house (or table to table at a convention) and play his character in each game.

He steps into the room, says a few words in character, rolls his dice, and --zoom-- moves on to the next room.

 

[Philosopher]

When I read the title of this thread, I immediately thought of a gamer who played in multiple games at the same time--like one of those chess prodigies you see playing a dozen games of chess at the same time. He would go from room to room of a house (or table to table at a convention) and play his character in each game.

He steps into the room, says a few words in character, rolls his dice, and --zoom-- moves on to the next room.

Except that in chess, you can decide on a move with no more information than the current state of the board. How can you roleplay when you're not there for the DM's description and the interactions of the other PCs?

 

[Holy Bovine]

Why should a group restrict themselves to one world setting?

Why not design something that allows the characters to be able to access different game worlds?

For example, they all live in a tower that can travel to different dimensions.

For me I am currently designing an small city on an entire island that can do this. I call it Dragongaunt.

Heh. In my 4E Mystara game the group explored the Ghost Tower of Inverness (C2 in the 1E module system) and discovered that the Tower could be moved through time. At least that is what they thought. I reality it can move through alternate time dimensions (for fans of H. Beam Piper this is the theory behind his Paratime stories - really some of his best stuff). They will eventually return to the Tower and get themselves back to their own dimension - hopefully in time to stop the Astral Giant invasion, reform the heroic group called the Silver Cloaks and eventually defeat the mastermind behind it all - Acerack!

This will also make it easy if I want the group to travel to a different campaign world - say Dark Sun - with near infinite possibilities of alternate timelines they will be able to find one where the heroes lost - hence Dark Sun!